Georgi's 10G

[terahz]

I figured, since I'll be upgrading this tank in the next couple of months, I should document its existence.

About 2 years ago I got an Aqueon 10G deluxe kit. It cam with hood with 2 PC lights and a HOB filter. At that time I lived in a place where I couldn't setup a tank so It stayed in the box for quite some time. Last November, I decided to set it up. It took a while decide if I should do a FW or SW tank, since I've had a FW tank for many years while back home. So I spent a couple of weeks reading about SW tanks, lighting, filtration etc and I immediately decided to do LEDs for my lights. And this is how it started.
Even before putting water in the tank I started modding the hood:
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-001.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-002.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-006.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-009.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-013.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_agalid-015.jpg
I did not spend enough time reading about LEDs and made a few wrong choices, so my corals suffer a bit even till today. More on that later.

Few days later the live rock and sand arrived so here it is.
8th November 2009:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/aquarium.jpg

Only two weeks later algae was there and I knew a good chunk of the hitchhikers:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/aquarium.w2.jpg

45 days later the pair of true perculas were added along with a few tiny frags of coral (make note of the two tiny pieces of GSP in the lower right)
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/FTS.20.12.2009.800.jpg
At that time I had the DIY ATO setup as well.

Another couple of weeks and that lettuce was growing like crazy:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/FTS.08.01.2010.800.jpg

[terahz]

It wasn't long before I decided to add a fuge/sump. Since my "stand" is my old grill with a piece of MDF on top of it, I didn't have space under it, so decided to do a HOB 5G add on:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/HOB%20Huge.png

After some weld-on and bending I got this:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/FUGE/FUGE-010.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_aquarium-0028.jpg

11 weeks later it was time for some more frags
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_aquarium-0045.jpg

http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/rastas.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/nightmare.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/rainbowpoc.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/meteorshower.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/ricordea1.jpg

FTS at 3 monts and 1 week:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/FTS.2010.02.09.800.jpg

[terahz]

I had a little issue with a small birdsnest frag (RTN):
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/frag.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/frag_1.jpg

I decided to cut half of it hoping it would survive and it wasn't long before the cuts started to heal and grow:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/frag_2.jpg
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_BirdsNest_03022010.jpg

And this is what it looks now (5 months after the cut)
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/Birdsnest.2010.05.19.jpg

[terahz]

In the middle of march there was a really good deal on a few big 'frags' that I couldn't pass. At that time I didn't realize how huge these colonies were:
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_FTS_2010_03_13.jpg
I think they are a little big for my tank, and I placed the green slimer in a really bad location (right under the shade), but that was the only place I could really fit it! The birds nest lost some of its "ping/purple" since then, which I think is because of the LED choice I made.

Meanwhile I got a macro lens and made some really nice photos:
Garf Bonsai that I won in a design competition :)
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_GARF_Bonsai_042010.jpg

The big green slimer:
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_Green_Slimer_042010.jpg

And the crazy Scarlet Hermit:
http://joro.geodar.com/pics/albums/aquarium/normal_Hermit_Macro_1_201004.jpg

So here is what it all looks like today:
http://joro.geodar.com/images/aquarium/FTS.2010.05.19.jpg

[terahz]

Equipment:
75W Heater
2x Koralia Nanos
DIY HOB Fuge
DIY LED lights
DIY ATO
DIY Controller(PH, LED control, temperature monitor)
E-shopps pks100 skimmer.
DIY filter socks
Chemicals: No dosing, coralife salt, carbon bag.

I do weekly 1G or bi-weekly 2G water changes with fresh RODI water.

Regarding the LEDs, I chose warm white LEDs instead of cool whites, so not only did I got less intense light, I also got a bunch of red light that only helps algae growth as you can see in the final photo (I have a few tiny patches of hair algae). Also, I believe because of the warm whites some of the sps faded a little bit. I plan to recover all of them when I upgrade the tank and properly create my LED fixture.

Livestock:
2 True Perculas
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
3 Astrea snails
4 Ceriths
a lot (probably 10) nassarius vibex
3 Nerite snails
2 Scarlet Hermits
Green and dark pink birds nest
Tyree alien eye chalice
blue stag
acro gemmifera
steve elias blue stag
ORA green bottlebrush
Rainbow Poc
Orange Monti
Meteor Shower
Pearlberry
Green Stylo
ATL Crayola Plana
TCN Royal Blue Tenus
GARF Bonsai
Green Slimer
Orange Digi
GSP
Everlasting Gobstopper
Neon green zoas
Mohawks
Rastas
Nightmares
Ping (AoG look alike) zoas
Ricordea Floras
Green hair algae :)
Neil's Acro

[RTMA]

Looking Good, great to finally see the progression. Man that slimer is huge! Love all the DIY stuff! Can't wait to see the 40.

[tank o tang]

Looks great. Can't wait to see what directions you take the 40.

[robertzoa]

georgi... your tank is sooooo nice!
we need to talk!

[scolley]

Tank looks good Georgi! Nice additions since you showed it to us in the meeting a few months back. So the assumption is that these are all going in the new tank? Or are you going to leave this up and running after all this work?

[Wheel of Time]

what a nice way to document the tank (wish I had done that with my rig). Well done. Looks quite nice. Im so impressed before even having the sw tank up for the first time you were already modding the hood for LED's. That's awesome.

Good looking growth in the tank, so your DIY LED's sure work great. pretty cool.

[Obi-dad]

Nice! Georgi inspired me to swap out my MH and T5s for LEDs (haven't finished yet) - anyone else taking the plunge?

[rjinct]

George...looking good! The macro of the hermit is outta' control. Awesome!

[RTMA]

Nice! Georgi inspired me to swap out my MH and T5s for LEDs (haven't finished yet) - anyone else taking the plunge?

oh yeah...just waiting on some stuff to arrive.

[clittrell]

That tank looks great!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[terahz]

Tanks all!
Robert, any time :)

Steve, unfortunately the limit in my apartment is 45G, so I can't keep both, thought I'd love to see it turn at least 1 :) That's fine though, I'll move all livestock in a 40B where they should be happier.

My new tank (40B rimless) has another 2 weeks to cure, just enough time to build the stand. Then cycling starts etc, so I don't plan to take the 10G down for at least another 2 months.

[clittrell]

Are you going to make an LED setup and use the hydra for the 40 gallon?

[terahz]

Are you going to make an LED setup and use the hydra for the 40 gallon?

Yes :)
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1880113